Gordon6
Carroll4
Ethier9
Kemp8
Loney3
Barajas2
Miles5
Gwynn7
Lilly1
Ted Lilly-4-5 vs. Jason Hammel-3-5
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| Kemp is having possibly one of the greatest seasons by any Dodger in Dodger history |
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| Andre Dawson "the Hawk" won the 1987 MVP for last place Chicago |
weve all been holding our breaths awaiting word whether Matt Kemp's tight left hamstring was well enough to allow him to play tonight in game three of this four game series in Colorado. the word came in and it was all good. Kemp will be in the starting lineup tonight. after recieving this news of great relief, we also learned that Kuo and Jansen are both progressing well in their rehab starts, and could be rejoining the team as soon as next week, with Jansen being elligible to come off the DL on monday. (dont worry Ill get to Kemp in a second)
so while we anxiously await their return, and trust me they couldnt get here fast enough, this poses a question, when they do return, who should be the two pitchers who get demoted, or shuffle off to DFA land? the immediate response would be to say Lindblom, and Troncoso right? well wait a minute, or should it?
since Troncoso's callup in early may, he has pitched 9 innings of scoreless baseball, only allowing 7 hits, with 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. the other day he pitched 2.1 scoreless innings. Troncoso was the Dominican pitcher who came to the dodgers in 2009, posting a 2.72 ERA, with 6 saves. somehow though the sinker ball pitcher lost his sink. last year he was horrendouz, and had to be demoted several times. this year after a horrible start, he was demoted, he had given up like about a hundred or so runs in the few innings he worked. but since being called back up, hes been pretty good. now I know that this is Ramon Troncoso, and he is Ramon Troncoso, but Dougie has been awful latly, so maybe it should be Dougie getting a pink slip, Lindblom a demotion, and Troncoso a stay of execution. I still think Troncoso sucks balls, but if he has regained his form, and his sinker starts sinking again, then he could be a very effective pitcher in the late innings.
as far as the offense goes, im going to pose another question, as you can see from the lineup above, Carroll is back at second base batting second, with Miles batting 8th at third base. but should Carroll be hittng second, what about hitting him 5th behind Kemp?
its becoming clear that Matt Kemp is on his way to winning the NL MVP. he sends our hearts a flutter every time he hits. we know with Kemp in the lineup, along with his outfield pal Andre Ethier, a game is never out of reach. we marvel at Kemp's monster blasts, and cheer Ethier's allstar line drive bat.
we watch as our two stars are currently third and fourth respectivly in batting average, Kemp leads the league with 19 HRs, and second with 54 RBI. Kemp is number 1 in slugging, third in OPS, and third in hits. Ethier is 7th in hits, and both are in the top 5 in OBP. the last time the Dodgers had two players with OBPs of .400 or better was 1985 when Pedro Guererro and Mike Scioscia did it.
its clear that the only way the Dodgers have any chance in hell of winning, is if our two stars are in the lineup every game. if either of them are out of the lineup for even an inning, we stand zero chances of winning. this was evidenced by last nights 8 useless innings, before the Dodgers battled back for a 5 run 9th inning rally that fell just short, but was sparked by a bison blast. my original point being anyone can hit second, Miles can do that, or blake, but having players like Uribe and Barajas hitting behind him who can barly hit their wieght, and Loney with his signature groundballs, provide zero lineup protection. we cant move Dre behind him, and the only other guy on this team who can hit is Carroll. I propose we move Carroll to the 5th spot, in order to protect Kemp, he might not hit homeruns, but the guy is hitting .300. night and day difference from the auto outs that normally hit behind him.
lets take a look at the pitching matchups for tonight. Dodgers lefty Ted Lilly who is 4-5 on the year, will counter Rockies Jason Hammel, who is 3-5.
Lilly has always pitched well against Colorado, with a 6-2 record, a 4.21 ERA, and 57 Ks in just over 51 innings. even with Lilly's past success against the Rockies, I have little confidence, especiallywith Lilly's homerun to fly ball ratios that are through the roof this year. having a fly ball pitcher like Lilly who gives up alot of homeruns is unlikly to have alot of success pitching at coors field, plus Cargo has hit three homers off Lilly, so the Dodgers should be aware of father time's homerun allowing habits.
Hammel is coming off a good start where he thre 5.2 innings of no-hit ball. however the Dodgers did beat him this year at Dodger stadium back on may 30th. he is generally a solid pitcher when healthy, but has not pitched well against the Dodgers, a 2-2 record, and 4.80 ERA, Hammel has very good strikeout to walk ratios of about three over the last two seasons, but he has regressed this year. as example, he had only walked 47 batters last year in 177 innings, this year he has already walked 23, in just over 76 innings of work. it should also be noted that Ethier and Blake have had varrying degrees of success against Hammel, each with a home run, but Blake is not in the lineup today. Kemp is hitting only .231 off Hammel.
before I sign off, did you guys see where that Bison blast landed yesterday? it completly cleared the left field bleachers, landing in the concourse where the concession stands are. my god man. it is very possible that the Dodgers will finish last place and Matt Kemp will win the NL MVP. you can certainly make a case for him right now couldnt you? and if you think that a player cant win an MVP award on a last place team, then think again, because you would be wrong. I think we all remember "the Hawk" Andre Dawson winning the 1987 NL MVP for the last place Cubs. he hit 49 homeruns that year.
game time is at 510. go blue!
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